Guide
Heritage statement or heritage impact assessment: what is the difference?
Updated
Councils use these terms loosely and inconsistently. What matters is the depth of assessment the asset requires, which is also what sets the fee.
The names in circulation
- Statement of significance
- Describes what is significant about the asset and why, without necessarily assessing a specific proposal. Sometimes commissioned on its own, early, to inform design.
- Heritage statement
- The common label for a document that does both jobs: assesses significance and then assesses the impact of the proposals on it. The usual requirement on a domestic or small commercial application.
- Heritage impact assessment
- Generally used for a fuller, more structured assessment of effects, often on larger schemes, higher-graded assets, or where several assets and their settings are involved. Expect a more formal method and a longer document.
- Design and access statement, heritage section
- Some applications carry the heritage material inside a design and access statement. Whether that is acceptable depends on the authority's validation list and the sensitivity of the asset.
Why the label matters less than the scope
National guidance sets one test: the level of detail should be proportionate to the asset's importance and no more than is sufficient to understand the potential impact of the proposal on its significance (gov.uk). A document called a heritage statement that properly assesses significance and impact satisfies that test; a document called a heritage impact assessment that does neither does not. When a council asks for one term and your consultant proposes another, the useful question is what the scope contains, not what it is titled.
What actually changes the price between them
| Scope element | Lighter commission | Heavier commission |
|---|---|---|
| Assets covered | One designated asset | Several assets plus settings and non-designated assets |
| Evidence base | Listing entry, site visit, previous applications | Archive and map regression, record office visits, historic photographs |
| Recording | Photographic record from a single visit | Measured or level-based building recording of fabric to be lost |
| Method | Narrative assessment | Structured assessment of effects on each attribute of significance |
| Consultation | Submission only | Pre-application meetings, responses to consultee comments, appeal statements |
How to decide what you need
- Read the authority's validation list for the council you are applying to, and note the exact term it uses.
- Ask the consultant for a view on proportionality before agreeing a scope. A good consultant will argue for less work where less is genuinely sufficient, because an over-long report is not more persuasive.
- Where the asset is highly graded or several assets are engaged, expect the heavier scope and price for it rather than paying twice.
- Compare proposals on scope, not on title. Two documents with the same name can differ by a factor of several in the work behind them.